Middle East - Anthony Ham [454]
Turkey’s successful home-grown pop industry managed to gain European approval faster than the country’s politicians, when Sertab Erener won the Eurovision Song Contest with ‘Every Way that I Can’ in 2003.
The big pop stars include pretty-boy Tarkan, who Holly Valance covered, and chanteuse Sezen Aksu. Burhan Öçal is one of Turkey’s finest percussionists; his seminal New Dream is a funky take on classical Turkish music. Ceza is the king of İstanbul’s thriving hip hop scene.
With an Arabic spin, Arabesk is also popular. The genre’s stars are Orhan Gencebay and the Kurdish former construction worker, Ibrahim Tatlıses.
Two Kurdish folk singers to listen out for are Aynur Doğan and Ferhat Tunç.
Architecture
Turkey’s architectural history encompasses everything from Hittite stonework and Graeco-Roman temples to modern tower-blocks in İstanbul, but perhaps the most distinctively Turkish styles are Seljuk and Ottoman. The Seljuks left magnificent mosques and medreses, distinguished by their elaborate entrances; the Ottomans also built grand religious structures, and fine wood-and-stone houses in towns such as Safranbolu and Amasya.
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ENVIRONMENT
The Land
The Dardanelles, the Sea of Marmara and the Bosphorus divide Turkey into Asian and European parts. Eastern Thrace (European Turkey) comprises only 3% of the 779,452-sq-km land area; the remaining 97% is Anatolia, a vast plateau rising eastward towards the Caucasus mountains. With more than 7000km of coastline, snowcapped mountains, rolling steppes, vast lakes and broad rivers, Turkey is geographically diverse.
Environmental Issues
Turkey’s embryonic environmental movement is making slow progress; discarded litter and ugly concrete buildings (some half-finished) disfigure the west in particular. Desertification is a long-term threat for the country.
Big dam projects have caused environmental problems. The 22-dam Güneydoğu Anadolu Projesi (GAP) project is changing southeastern Anatolia’s landscape as it generates hydroelectricity for industry. Parched valleys have become fish-filled lakes, causing an explosion of diseases. GAP has also generated problems with Syria and Iraq, the countries downriver.
In 2008, dam-builders’ plans to drown Hasankeyf saw the historic southeastern town named on the World Monuments Watch list (alongside four other Turkish sites).
On the plus side, Turkey is slowly reclaiming its architectural heritage; Central Anatolia’s Ottoman towns Safranbolu and Amasya are masterpieces of restoration.
İstanbul has a branch of Greenpeace Mediterranean ( /fax 0212-292 7619/7622; Kallavi Sokak 1/2, Beyoğlu).
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FOOD
Turkish food is regarded as one of the world’s greatest cuisines. Kebaps are, of course, the mainstay of restaurant meals; ubiquitous lokantas (restaurants) sell a wide range of them. Try the durum döner kebap – compressed meat (usually lamb) cooked on a revolving upright skewer over coals, then thinly sliced. Laid on pide bread, topped with tomato sauce and browned butter and with yogurt on the side, döner kebap becomes İskender kebap, primarily a lunchtime delicacy. Equally common are köfte (meatballs).
A quick, cheap fill, Turkish pizza is a freshly cooked pide topped with cheese, egg or meat. Alternatively, lahmacun is a paper-thin Arabic pizza with chopped onion, lamb and tomato sauce. Other favourites are gözleme (thin, savoury crêpes) and simit (ring of bread decorated with sesame seeds).
Fish dishes, although excellent, are often expensive; check the price before ordering.
For vegetarians, meze can be an excellent way to ensure a varied diet. Most restaurants should be able to rustle up beyaz peynir (ewe’s- or goat’s-milk cheese), sebze çorbası (vegetable soup), börek (flaky pastry stuffed with white cheese and parsley), kuru fasulye (beans) and patlıcan tava (fried aubergine).
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CLASSIC TURKISH EXPERIENCES bingxian26
Tavla and çay Turks are very fond of their tavla (backgammon) and çay (tea); spend an afternoon café-hopping and playing backgammon, and you